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Tuesday, 30 December 2014

Getting the most out of Blogger

A couple of recent posts on blogs I follow have prompted me to remind myself and others about making the best use of Blogger's inbuilt tools. I've been benefiting from the expertise of those sharing their knowledge on Worldwide Genealogy where I have noticed some Wordpress contributors struggling with the unfamiliar to them platform. I hope some of these hints may be useful.

Another blog A Family Tapestry post Scraping: the bottom of the barrel reminded me of the need to check that each post had an originating link embedded at the end of the post. This can be enabled through the dashboard in Settings. I usually edit the embedded address to the exact post address which can be located in the sidebar under the Links heading. The link can be customised or left on automatic.

When I copy the exact link address from the sidebar in the editing mode and paste it on the bottom of the post it appears thus http://librarycurrants.blogspot.com/2014/12/beat-blogger-blues.html complete with blue background. One of the handiest tools in the Blogger editing bar is the Tx symbol. Highlight any text and use this to remove formatting that has been carried over from copy and paste actions.

If you write your posts in MS Word or any other program, always highlight all the text then use the Tx symbol to rid it of unwanted formatting. This is particularly useful for family historians copying text from old newspapers and other sources.
Next I add a Search Description in the Post settings to give my post a chance of being found and read!

Today I became aware of a feature I had not previously used, the ability to predate a post. Whilst I have previously used the Schedule function for posts to be published in the future, I had never considered its usefulness for resurrecting earlier web content published elsewhere. This post by +Chris Betcher made me realise the value of being able to manipulate the dates to earlier years in Blogger. He has brought previously defunct webpages covering 20 years of his family history into a new blog using the Set date and time function under the Schedule menu.

Before I publish a post, I spell check! This tool ABC/ is located on the far right hand side of the Blogger toolbar. It can be used on posts and all static content pages.

From Lipstick To Ammunition

Men who tried to buy their wives and sweethearts favourite lipstick for a Christmas present found that there was a great shortage of those little metal cases in which lipstick formerly came. And when they tried to buy powder compacts, the choice was limited, and those displayed looked a bit tired and shopworn.

The reason is that the lathes that turned out those metal containers are making ammunition now, and the metal from which they are made is also fighting the Japs

Like lots of other beauty aids, these are now limited to stocks on hand. Lipstick is still being made, but you have to use your old container.

Tuesday, 9 December 2014

Voice interpretation

I've just watched the free Legacy webinar Can You Hear Me Now? Voice Recognition Software for Genealogists and have been playing lately with voice searches using OK Google and Siri.
In all cases the voice recognition software needs to be trained to recognise one's voice and accent. The software improves with repeated use as it is trained to hear my voice.

This set me to wondering what Trove would reveal about voices. Here's a lovely piece found in The Burra Record of 1943. It made me reflect on how my voice influences other people's interaction with me.

Tuesday, 2 December 2014

1914 recipes

With Christmas cooking on my menu for this week I wondered what was cooking 100 years ago in the district where I grew up.
Here are some recipes from The Kapunda Herald of 4 December 1914. Cabbage boiled for three or four hours, not quite the aroma of Christmas cooking that I have in mind.

1916

This one is rather more interesting for a Christmas treat but quite a lot of work involved over a hot fire in South Australia where in December temperatures can range well above 35 degrees C.

Interesting use of a thimbleful as a unit for measuring ingredients. I wonder how many of us would need to buy a thimble to make this recipe and would a modern day thimble be the same size as one from 1916?

The joys of Trove, often it ends up posing more questions for us to ponder.